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Critique my form!

Seekbigger

Seekbigger

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2022
Messages
430
Location
Means, Ky
Looking for some constructive criticism from those who are familiar with great shooting form and accuracy. I’m not sensitive so lay it on me. I am a very confident hunting archer out to 40 yards, just been shooting some longer distance at targets the last year or so and not shooting groups tight enough to suit me. Just looking for some tips if you can see any red flags in my form. As always thanks and God Bless
youtube.com

Bow shooting form

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I'm no pro but I think everything looks great except your grip. I know for me, I start seeing accuracy problems if I don't have my grip set properly. Also, by the video it looks like you might be punching that trigger. Have you considered trying a hinge release? They are a great learning tool for the surprise release.
 

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Seekbigger said:
Looking for some constructive criticism from those who are familiar with great shooting form and accuracy. I’m not sensitive so lay it on me. I am a very confident hunting archer out to 40 yards, just been shooting some longer distance at targets the last year or so and not shooting groups tight enough to suit me. Just looking for some tips if you can see any red flags in my form. As always thanks and God Bless
youtube.com

Bow shooting form

youtube.com youtube.com
Click to expand...

Do the arrows consistently end up where you are aiming?
 
From 40 yards in I can do pretty well, haven’t had any problems killing deer and turkeys but I havnt shot past 40 yards, where I struggle to get great groups is 50 plus on targets. I currently don’t shoot a stabilizer so I was thinking that it might help me with longer distance. I use to punch the trigger really bad, since switch to the thumb release I feel I can just squeeze my shot off. I had considered trying the back tension release for a bit as well.
 
Will come back and look at it again but the 2 things that jump out at me for over 40 shooting is no stabilizer and a little quick on the thumb button. You can break a shot with a thumb button without perceptibly moving your thumb just with pressure. Adding some weight to the bow will slow things down a bit and breaking the shot just a little cleaner should tighten things up down range.
 
How does the bow balance for you? Your grip seems a little tight, wondering if a wrist sling and a stab setup may improve the balance enough to let you loosen you grip
 
I tried a short stabilizer on the front but I feel I need some weight on the back to balance the bow better. With one on the front I get too much dip down in my sight at longer range. May pick up a stabilizer set and play around with the weights to see if it will improve Long range. I appreciate all the comments.
These are some 40 yard groups
7E6CBCA4-B668-40EC-BD33-65CF0B98D10C.jpeg3E36C0A9-B517-47ED-A183-CE924C4B6BBB.jpeg2508CC94-3A83-498D-9D94-22489C73A223.jpeg656B213D-7C93-4DCC-828D-49AC52DC085C.jpeg
 
Seekbigger said:
I tried a short stabilizer on the front but I feel I need some weight on the back to balance the bow better. With one on the front I get too much dip down in my sight at longer range. May pick up a stabilizer set and play around with the weights to see if it will improve Long range. I appreciate all the comments.
These are some 40 yard groups
View attachment 80683View attachment 80684View attachment 80685View attachment 80686
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Not sure what your goals are but those are good 40yd groups
 
40 and closer is not where I struggle. I figure I am very confident at that range but I’m looking to increase long range accuracy for target shooting only. Not sure that I would ever be the guy who wants to shoot deer over 40 yards, just my opinion though.
 
I think your form is quite good, I do agree you need to squeeze into the shot a bit more. For longer range grouping a host of things can be at play. 98% will be form issues but I will add that part of that form is also the shot sequence and hold/focus on the target. We tend to try to focus more and keep the pin on the smaller more out of focus target and my advice is to just do the opposite. In my experience, the aiming is much less important than the form, hold and release st longer distances. Believe it or not our natural centering ability is uncanny but we fail to consider it and move to a conscious thought of aim perspective instead of a subconscious form of thought and aiming. The best example I can provide is learning to drive a car. Remember when you first started driving how weird it felt the physical and active interaction of movement and control and compare that to how you drive now. In reality, most of us don’t even think about it. That’s how archery aiming and the shot cycle should be. Those groups at 40 yards are already high level, shoot at 50 like you do at 10 in terms of your relaxation and sight/shot picture control. Don’t let the fact of farther distance become a factor. You are doing the absolute same things at 10 so do them at 50 or 60 and beyond. Believe it or not as I increase distance I actually am more prone to focus more and more on my pin and just see the bullseye in the distance and allow my natural centering ability to take over and focus on the shot execution. Your arrows will fall in there nicely and is directly proportional to the amount of relaxed subconscious shooting you’re doing as opposed to the “new driver” conscious interactive type of shooting. Keep it simple and focused on your follow through trusting this more seemingly “laissez-faire” approach.
 
Nate said:
Anything past 40 your bow tune, arrow setup, etc can have just as big of an impact as your form.
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Yes my statements assume your bow is reasonably tuned and fits you. Most bows set up at factory spec with proper matched arrows will shoot in the same hole using a shooting machine. Over and over again. Give that same bow to a human and all of a sudden there is some wrong with the bow???
 
I appreciate all the feedback, I did learn some time ago to focus on the target and not the pin in the focus, that really help a lot. I had my bow tuned and it really shoots nicely through paper at close range. That being said I might need to paper tune out further, gonna try a stabilizer set to see if that helps steady me some at longer distances. Like I said I am very confident in my shooting from 40 yards in, as used in deer hunting. I’ve killed 6 over the last two season and recovered them all within 50 yards. I’m just ocd about everything I do, so I’m gonna see if I can get better long range. God Bless
 
Get a hinge or back tension and practice with that in the off season.

Looks to me like you have good fundamentals! Keep it up!
 
Your groups look awesome. I’m no Levi Morgan but I group well to 40 with a shorter stabilizer and a trigger release. But my biggest success form wise is my grip. I use what was taught to me as a “crab claw grip” and it’s been the most consistent part of my shooting other than my anchor point. I grip the bow lightly with only my thumb and pointer finger, but instead of leaving my fingers loosely outstretched (wherein they can “spaz out” and “catch” the bow when the shot breaks causing the bow to torque) I tuck them into my palm next to the grip. When my hand inevitably and imperceptibly reacts to the shot breaking, the corresponding torque stays in my palm and isn’t translated to the bow.
Grip is pretty personal and this may or may not work for you. This is just how is was explained to me by a couple of VERY good bow techs and hunters who built my bow. I also used to hang with the old timers on the 3D range pretty well and they credited my grip and my anchor as my best form attributes, so I’ve never changed it.
 
Seekbigger said:
I appreciate all the feedback, I did learn some time ago to focus on the target and not the pin in the focus,
Click to expand...
Not what I said, if you reread my post (I get it, it’s kind of long) I said focus on the pin not the target like handgun shooting with open sights. There’s a reason I explained that in my post.
 
I agree with the grip. You can see the thumb pressure right before the trigger pull. Get a real stabalizer on there. 10” or so and play with weights. Back bars add a whole different game.
A hinge is great and you will see the lack of pull through you have. However, I really like a tension release (Silverback or Evolution). They will make you work and pull threw off the back wall.
Grip, stabalizer and a release will absolutely show results. Good luck!!
 
Well fellows I changed my grip and been really concentrating on squeezing my release just focusing on the center of the target and though it hasn’t been real long, my groups have tightened considerably. I’m now gripping the bow with my thumb and index finger and tucking the others back in my hand, that has really help a ton. Thanks for all the help, I’m gonna play around with some stabilizers through the summer and a back tension release as well. God Bless
D3E6C675-7EE8-426E-B86D-BE2C9320FD99.jpeg10CCC24F-1B12-4687-84C2-24BA5F27BF95.jpeg
 
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